From Jeff D. of the D.N.R.

The lack of rain has north Georgia trout streams running crystal clear
and at lower levels than those seen all summer. Fish are not as
active, especially in these hot afternoons, and will be closely inspecting
your offerings, if you haven't already spooked them with your approach
and cast.

I was humbled at Dukes Creek last weekend. Fishing was still fun, but
the catching was a lot slower than it has been all summer. I was
forced to go to small wet flies and nymphs (sizes16-20) on long leaders with
very light tippets (6X, 7X fluoro). I managed a few rainbows to 13
inches and hooked a couple of good fish exceeding 16 inches. Hooking does
not equal landing in many cases, especially where these fish know where
each log jam is, and the lunkers beat me this time. It was still fun.
One friend landed a nice 17 inch rainbow on a dry fly just before
quitting time. It was a special fish because his dad watched the battle
(congrats Tackler!).

These tough conditions provide a great opportunity to perfect your
skills. This could be good practice in advance of any trips to distant,
exotic locales with big, picky fish.

Tip for the rest of us non-experts: Don't spend a lot of time in the
big, slow pools where you can often see those big fish. They've likely
already seen you, and your first cast will spook them anyway. Find the
spots with the best combinations of fast and deep water, like the very
head of a pool, deep runs, or shaded pocket water with boulders or log
jams. Keep your polarized sunglasses on and look for the "blue-green"
water with a cobbled bottom that has "rainbow trout" written all over
it. The combination of a) cover to make the fish feel safe and b)
velocity to make the fish decide whether to eat something passing by
quickly, should increase your success rate. Hit the middle and ends of the
big, slow pools after a rain shower muddies them.

Some nice places for kids should be Tallulah and Wildcat creeks, which
should still have a good bunch of stocked fish left in them. The bream
and trout near the Moccasin Creek footbridge on Lake Burton are great
practice targets for newbies, too. Try very light line, small worms, or
small wet flies (16, 18). This is a nice place to take a beginning
flyfisherperson.

Reminder: there is a Waters Creek work day sponsored by NGTO this
Saturday (9/17). Stream structures will be repaired and installed under the
guidance of the US FOrest Service and GA DNR. Volunteers are
requested. See the Events section in North Georgia Trout Online for details.
http://www.georgia-outdoors.com/ngto/

Carpool, buy a WMA stamp, and bring your short rod, especially if
Waters catches a rain shower on Friday night. AFter helping to build a new
pool for a future lunker, you can slip upstream in the afternoon and
try for some. They're in there (personal experience), but they also know
where each log jam is.

Put some tissues in your pocket. They'll help wipe your tears away
when the fish of a lifetime carousels around submerged poplar limbs and
breaks you off (personal testament again).

We're almost past summer and fishing should be on the upswing soon as
the nights cool off. Good luck to you.

www.gofishgeorgia.com